Thiruvananthapuram: The punishment transfer meted out to a school headmistress who criticised the state education minister for arriving late has raised a ruckus in Kerala. The opposition Left Democratic Front wants the decision reversed.
The controversial incident happened at the prestigious Cotton Hill School in the capital earlier this week when state education minister P.K. Abdo Rubb turned up over an hour later than scheduled for a function.
The headmistress of the school, K.K. Urmila Devi, indirectly criticised the minister during her address, apparently peeved by the fact that schoolchildren had been waiting since morning for the minister.
Devi later clarified that she had not directly criticised the minister, but only pointed out that when school functions are organised they must be in a manner in which time for academics is not lost. Abdo Rubb said when he reached the school the gate was closed, and that the headmistress had not behaved in a manner becoming of someone in that post.
The opposition rallied around the headmistress, pointing out that the incident brought out the “communal manner” in which the Indian Union Muslim League was handling the education portfolio.
“This is the result of giving the education portfolio to an immature person”, Communist Party of India Marxist state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said on Thursday. Vijayan demanded that the government reverse the decision to transfer her, and alleged that chief minister Oommen Chandy was justifying the education minister in order to please the IUML.
The matter was given another twist with the revelation that the headmistress is suffering from an ailment and her husband is a cardiac patient. She said she was being penalised because she belonged to a scheduled caste.
Abdo Rubb however made efforts to justify his action in a Facebook post.
The education minister suffered another setback on Thursday when the assembly speaker G. Karthikeyan said it was inappropriate for House members to participate in functions when the assembly is in session.
Following her spat with the minister, Urmila Devi was first slapped with a show cause notice and even before she could respond to it, she was given a transfer order. Devi appealed to the administrative tribunal against the transfer order. The tribunal declined to order a stay, but has sought all correspondence relating to her transfer.
“The headmistress was transferred on the ground that the school gate remained closed when the minister arrived. Who’s the minister — is he a king?”, asked CPM leader V. Sivankutty in the state assembly.
Education minister Abdo Rubb said he was not taking any vindictive action. He pointed out that the Director of Public Instruction had recommended suspension for the headmistress but the department had only given a transfer.
